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Cloud Computing &Genealogical Collaboration: How Technology Can Help Us Work Together The First Birdie Monk Holsclaw Memorial Lecture National Genealogical Society Family History Conference 2011 Jordan Jones 3

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Roadmap• What is Cloud Computing?• How Can Genealogists Use the Cloud?• What Are the Risks?• Are You Already Using the Cloud? 4

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Deﬁnition of the CloudComputation Software Data Access Storage Services• The cloud does “not require end-user knowledge of the physical location and conﬁguration of the system that delivers the services.” 7

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In Other Words ...• Previously, everyone who wanted to host a website or manage a lot of data had to buy servers, conﬁgure, and maintain them, or arrange for someone else to do this.• Now, a layer of abstraction has been built, allowing servers, software, databases and storage to be commoditized, delivered, and maintained in bulk.• The cloud allows people to know less and less about the systems they use, because it “just works.” (Most of the time.) 8

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The Cloud Means Cloud Computing, unattributed, 2010. Device-Independence http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cloud_applications.jpg, This ﬁle is made available under the Creative Commons CC 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.10

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Digital Memory for Genealogists• Capture information where you are (courthouse, cemetery, interviewing family)• Quickly store that information and make it available on multiple machines, or even share it with other genealogists• Can completely get rid of paper notes you take in repositories, or it has for me• Can function as a research log and research plan• Can be set up to work with social media, or to be private 15

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Dropbox• Syncs with any single folder on your hard drive, and its subfolders• Automatically keeps the Dropbox folder synced to the cloud and then down to your conﬁgured systems• 2 GB of free; up to 100 GB or more in paid accounts• Windows, Mac, and Linux, as well as the iOS, BlackBerry, and Android mobile operating systems 33

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SugarSync• Provides both sync and backup• Can sync any ﬁles or folders on your system (not just a single folder and everything below it)• Especially good with multimedia, such as audio and image ﬁles, automatically streaming audio and making images viewable in albums• 5GB free; up to 250 GB in paid accounts• Windows, Mac, and Linux, as well as the iOS, 34

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Zumo Drive• Both ﬁle- and folder-level sharing is available.• Syncs photos with iPhoto, Picasa, or the Windows Pictures folder, and also provides a cloud-based photo album.• 2 GB is free; up to 500 GB is available in the paid plan.• Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Android and Palm Pre. 35

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Google Voice• Free account to receive visual voicemail (automated transcription) and actual phone calls, routed to one or more phones, as you conﬁgure based on day of the week and time• Make Internet calls to the US or Canada for free through 2011, with the ability to record incoming calls; perfect for recording research interviews• Now integrates with Sprint, meaning that Sprint users can change the number of their cell phone to be their Google Voice number, or vice versa 37

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Google Chrome OS• Operating System designed for the cloud• Minimal local disk drive• All content ﬁles saved to the cloud• Designed for the convergence of cloud and mobile• All your content is anywhere you can log into the OS• Completes the migration away from desktop machines that started with the ﬁrst laptop in 1983 39

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Security and Resiliency• Nothing in life (or on the Internet) is guaranteed• Servers can go down, even with planned redundancy and resilience, as we saw with Amazon Web Services in the last couple of weeks• Dozens of cloud-based websites rely on a small number of major cloud players (Amazon, RackSpace)• There can be privacy concerns, as have recently surfaced with Dropbox, Evernote, and others 42

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However ...• You are much more likely to lose ﬁles because you didn’t back them up than because your remote backup service failed.• You are much more likely to undergo a catastrophic failure of your personal hard drive than that a cloud service will fail. Additionally, the cloud service will be more likely to have a working backup.• If you are concerned about privacy, you can encrypt your data before sending it to the cloud to backup or share.• In terms of managing risk, using the cloud is preferable to not using it 43